Best Shopping on the Dark Side (2010)

It's difficult being a trendsetter when you're stuck smack dab in the middle of Conservative Central, a.k.a. Mesa, Arizona. Maybe they're protected by dark forces — or the ghosts rumored to be lurking in the historic building's basement — but somehow owner Bob Leeper and his family have managed to make a gothic fantasy collectible shop the centerpiece of downtown Mesa's retail district. The store carries action figures, new and recycled clothing, steampunk jewelry from local artists, and rave-worthy fuzzy legwarmers crafted by the owners' daughter, Amanda Tucker. Evermore Nevermore's funky craft classes on how to make cigar-box purses and Cthulhu toys never get dull. And we dig the fashion shows featuring El Vaquero Muerto, whose tooled leather pasties and chaps leave little to the imagination. Despite the holy hell raised over such issues as the former Nile Theater's goth crowd defying Mesa's unwritten "close up at sunset and die" law, Evermore Nevermore has managed to subtly lure Mesa over toward the dark side, where we hope they stay.